Jerry R. Mendell, MD
Jerry R. Mendell, MD, is a senior advisor in the Center for Gene Therapy in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s. He is also an emeritus professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University.
Dr. Mendell was an attending neurologist, principal investigator, and the Dwight E. Peters and Juanita R. Curran Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research at Nationwide Children’s and professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at The Ohio State University until his retirement in October 2023.
Dr. Mendell saw his first patient with DMD more than 50 years ago, igniting his passion to develop new treatments for patients with neuromuscular diseases. Learn more about his journey to developing a gene therapy for DMD, the most common form of muscular dystrophy affecting children. Of the first eight gene therapies approved by the FDA, two have come from his lab.
In 2019, Zolgensma® became the first systemically delivered gene therapy approved by the FDA. On June 22, 2023, the FDA announced the accelerated approval of SRP-9001/ELEVIDYS for children 4-5 years old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Dr. Mendell was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021, and he was the first recipient of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT)’s Jerry Mendell Translational Medicine Award. He has published more than 400 articles and authored books on skeletal muscle disease, peripheral nerve disorders, and gene therapy.
